The sneaky way one Utah teacher showed support for LGBTQ+ students despite bigoted laws

In the wake of a law targeting LGBTQ+ flags in schools, a Utah teacher is sharing how he’s previously found ways to show support for queer students in his classes even when politicians have done their best to stop it.

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"Way back in my first year of teaching, I was reading The Wizard of Oz in class and the words 'gay' and 'queer' came up in the book," John Arthur recounted in a video shared to Threads. "Some students started laughing and I was about to say something when my principal, who was observing in the room at the time, shook her head 'no.'"

When he spoke to the principal after class, he was informed that Utah had a law in place at the time against the "advocacy of homosexuality" in school. The law, which first began in 2001, was worded vaguely enough that it effectively prevented teachers from making any mention of anything LGBTQ-related.

Arthur was frustrated, as he noted there was a student in his class who was "clearly gay" and "reacted" to his classmates’ laughter. But the principal said there was nothing the teacher could do to show support without risking running afoul of the law.

"Late in the night, I realized: I’m a teacher. I use pens and highlighters and markers every day. No one could give me a hard time for wearing a bunch of pens in my pocket," he said. "So I came to school the next day with a rainbowish assortment ready to go. And most people made nothing of it. But my boy knew. He looked at me and he knew I was flying the flag just for him."

Although that particular law was repealed in 2017, as Arthur notes in his video, Utah has now taken action to officially ban LGBTQ+ flags from all government buildings — including schools — starting May 7.

This targeted action is being done under the guise of banning "unsanctioned" flags (basically any flags other than the U.S. flag, the Utah flag, and several others), but it’s been very clear from the start that the intention is specifically to get rainbow flags out of schools. Utah state representative Trevor Lee has even stated his intention to ban more items showing support for LGBTQ+ students in the future should teachers find ways to keep showing support beyond flags.

But Arthur says this strategy of intolerance simply won’t work.

"Bigotry will never outpace our creativity," he said. "The only way to get rid of rainbow flags and all the rest is to make them unnecessary. When all our kids — LGBTQ youth included — get to walk into our classrooms and find themselves celebrated in the books they read, the histories they study, and the stories we tell, then teachers won’t need to fly rainbow flags for them anymore."